Micah Roberts

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LAS VEGAS--The biggest story coming into this week’s NASCAR Sprint Cup weekend at Pocono Raceway was Toyota Racing Development announcing that the monstrous horsepower they have produced through the first 13 races would be reduced. There have been some engine malfunctions this season -- three in the last two weeks -- from the Joe Gibbs and Michael Waltrip stables. And while that horsepower has produced success on the year for Toyota, the added dimension of shifting at Pocono was likely deemed to have created more stress on the engines that will already be running at maximum RPM’s down the long front straightaway.

The announcement alone was enough to have second thoughts on drivers like Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth, who were all considered favorites to win Sunday’s Party in the Poconos 400. Rain washed away Friday’s first scheduled practice session and qualifying, so Saturday was the first chance to actually see how much slower Toyota would be.

At the completion of both Saturday practices, it was apparent that the reduction of power is probably a little more extreme than the Gibbs and Waltrip organizations had bargained for. For the Gibbs trio, they were collectively slower than they had been on any other type of track this season that requires lots of horsepower- tracks that they had won five times on already.

Kenseth has never fared well at Pocono -- his last top-5 finish came in 2006, but he had experienced a pleasant change of scenery this season with Gibbs at places he didn’t typically run well at. This biggest change from his career record this season was winning for the first time at Darlington in early May. Before the TRD announcement, there was intrigue with Kenseth's possibilities -- he opened as a 5-to-1 co-favorite at LVH. But now after practice and knowledge of why he’s so slow, Kenseth isn’t so tempting this week.

The same goes for Denny Hamlin, who has the best overall Pocono record among the Gibbs’ drivers. He’s averaged a 10.7 finish and has won four times on the 2.5-mile tricky triangle, but could only muster the 13th fastest lap during happy hour after being 26th quickest in the early session. He was considered the favorite among the favorites coming in, but the speed charts don’t lie, especially with Hamlin, who has never been accused of sandbagging in practice.

Kyle Busch was fastest among the Toyota drivers in happy hour with the 10th fastest lap. He’s almost been a winner at Pocono several times, but two runner-up finishes remain his best.

With those elite cars appearing to be down, that elevates several others to the top. Jimmie Johnson was already one of the co-favorites to win, but now he gets moved up even more because of not having as stiff of competition against him. He was fastest in the first practice and second during happy hour, where he also had the fastest 10-consecutive lap average among the four drivers that ran at least 10 straight. Johnson hasn’t won at Pocono since sweeping the 2004 season, but he still leads all active drivers with a 9th-place average finish.

The driver that was the most eye-popping on the speed charts was Carl Edwards, who second and third fastest, respectively, during Saturday’s practices. It was easily the fastest Edwards has looked during any practice session this season and a sign that we might be seeing a back-flip on Sunday. We’ve seen him do it twice before at Pocono, once as a rookie in 2005, and the other time in 2008.

It’s apparent that Tony Stewart’s Dover in not only woke himself up, but also his entire organization. It’s like they flipped the switch on and all of sudden, they’re fast. Stewart doesn’t typically run fast in any practices, but was showing off some great speed Saturday, as was teammate Ryan Newman. Both drivers have been excellent at Pocono over their careers and each present great value this week.

In all likelihood, this 400 mile event should be just as exciting as the two were last season, and it could also provide an unlikely winner. Nine of the past 11 Pocono races have provided different winners. The combination of shifting, the new Gen-6 car and fairly new surface has all kinds of variables intertwined to make it one of the better races seen at Pocono, a place that has typically been labeled as boring over the years.

If Toyota is as slow as they look, we could see someone like Kurt Busch, who was fast once again during practice, take the checkers for the first time this season. The way he looks in practice, he might even be able to beat the Gibbs' drivers even if their power wasn't reduced.

Micah Roberts' Top-10 Driver Ratings

Party in the Poconos 400 present by Walmart

Pocono Raceway

Sunday, June 9, 2013 -- 1:18 p.m. ET

RATED

DRIVER

ODDS

QUALIFIED*

PRAC 2

PRAC 3

POCONO '12*

Notes

1.

Jimmie Johnson

5/1

1st

1st

2nd

14th

Two-time winner; using 6th-place Texas chassis that won at Indy and Dover in 2012.

2.

Carl Edwards

20/1

2nd

2nd

3rd

7th

Two-time winner, the last in 2008; had his most impressive practices of season.

3.

Tony Stewart

20/1

19th

7th

4th

5th

Two-time winner with top-5 finishes in six of his past nine starts; time of year he gets motivated.

4.

Kasey Kahne

7/1

7th

13th

6th

2nd

2008 winner with 16.8 average finish; using chassis that led 114 laps at Las Vegas, finishing second.

5.

Kyle Busch

8/1

8th

6th

10th

33rd

Two-time runner-up; was the best among slow Toyota drivers in practice (horsepower reduced).

6.

Kurt Busch

20/1

20th

3rd

1st

30th

Two-time winner, the last in 2007; looks to have one of the top three cars, and team is on roll.

7.

Kevin Harvick

15/1

5th

5th

12th

16th

Career best fourth-place on three occasions; using 14th-place Bristol chassis this week.

8.

Matt Kenseth

5/1

4th

16th

18th

23rd

Not one of his best tracks -- last top-5 was in 2006; should be better than practice suggests.

9.

Denny Hamlin

5/1

17th

26th

13th

29th

Four-time winner, the last in 2010; reduced Toyota horsepower seems to have affected him most.

10.

Ryan Newman

75/1

23rd

15th

5th

6th

2003 winner with 12.4 average finish; looks to be just as fast as teammate/owner Stewart.

* The starting lineup was set by owner points due to qualifying washed away by rain. The first practice session was also rained out.

** Results from the rain-shortened August 5, 2012 Pennsylvania 400, the last Cup race run at Pocono Raceway‘s 2.5-mile triangular track.